The present invention relates to a process and apparatus for charging the chamber of an inclined chamber coke oven with briquettes.
It is known, in a gasification oven having a walled-up or enclosed gasification chamber, a horizontal ceiling and an inclined floor, to provide a charging hole in the rear area of the horizontal chamber ceiling (German Pat. No. 144,579). Such an arrangement, however, allows only an incomplete filling of the gasification chamber. In the case of an inclined chamber coke oven or gas oven provided with an inclined chamber ceiling and an inclined chamber floor, it is also known to arrange a charging hole at the upper end of the front wall of the chamber, since the charging operation would be difficult through an inclined chamber ceiling (German Pat. No. 229,779). When such a chamber is used, it is possible to fill the entire chamber volume and to thereby provide a uniform coking operation. However, the total chamber volume is substantially lower than in chambers having a horizontal chamber ceiling.
In order to overcome the difficulty of uniform charging in an inclined chamber coke oven having a horizontal chamber ceiling and an inclined chamber floor, it has been proposed to provide a plurality of charging holes in the chamber ceiling.
The charging of material to be formed into coke during a coking operation, in the form of briquettes, into a chamber of an inclined chamber coke oven having a horizontal chamber ceiling and an inclined chamber floor, for the purpose of producing shaped coke, is associated with the particular problem that the briquettes break or burst when introduced through the charging holes and drop therefrom to strike against the floor of the chamber. This detrimentally affects uniform coking of the coke charge, and it becomes difficult to empty the chamber, since the finer coke particles formed in connection with bursting of the briquettes are baked together during the coking operation.
Considerable effort and research have been undertaken to eliminate this problem. For example, it has firstly been attempted to deflect the briquettes from the vertical line of drop by arranging special guiding surfaces in or on the charging holes provided in the chamber ceiling, and secondly to arrange the charging holes obliquely or to round off the inner wall of the chamber after the first charging hole and to the chamber floor, so that the briquettes reach the chamber through a type of chute. The first proposal does not reduce the bursting of the briquettes to the desired extent, and the second proposal results in considerable structural expenditure and in a reduction in uniformity of coking in the frontal area of the chamber. It has also been attempted to increase the strength of the briquettes through preliminary heating or by the use of binders, or to stabilize the briquette firmness through surface coating. These solutions require special energy and procedural steps that cannot be economically justified.